When you give someone a book..

My mum always put her initials in the top corner of a book to make sure she didn't get it again in the local charity shop and her friend did the same.

No I don't write in books, but my mum was thrilled when I gave her a book signed by Norma Major who was a guest at an event I attended many moons ago

I have a second-hand book of Shakespeare's sonnets with a loving message in the front from J, and several sonnets heavily underlined.
Sad. Clearly not reciprocated.

When we were school age I used that well known rhyme
If this book should roam
Box it’s ears and send it home to
(Name - address)

I have a friend who is a prankster and signs a book he is giving to a charity shop with the name of a famous person, dated and the sort of book he thinks they might read?

I have some books my mother was presented with at school

Me too Tizliz. They’re almost a century old and I just can’t part with them.

I bought a book at a jumble sale which had a name written in it, which was the son in law of the author of the book (Sabine Baring Gould). I was able to pass it on to someone organising a Baring Gould festival.
I don't write in books but love to see inscriptions in old books, they are part of their history.
I have my grandmother's Sunday school prize with an inscription.

I can't get past the idea that one should never ever write in a book, as silly as that is.
So it's ages since I gave one, but no, I wouldn't write in it.

I'm a voracious reader and love the smell and feel of a real book, but I've decided, no more - I either buy them second-hand on ebay or in charity shops, or will use my kindle. I don't want to add to the deforestation problem in the world..

I always write inside any books i give my grandchildren….

I might for Gdcs, if it was anything a bit special, but I only ever give paperbacks to adults, so no, not for them. I never give hardbacks to adults - for myself I dislike them, too heavy to read in bed.
I find it very annoying when (especially) coming up to Christmas, popular new novels only come out in hardback, or the more expensive larger PB version, which I don’t like, either.

My DD was given a lovely prayer book as a christening present by her great-uncle and great-aunt which they had inscribed. Something to treasure except they spelt her name wrong.

Thank goodness we don't all buy books with monetary value at the heart of the purchase. I certainly don't anyway.

You can always slip a card in - if they want to keep the book, they can glue it- but never write inthe book - devalues it in every way.

I threw a baby shower for my daughter & in the invite a rhyme asking only for a children’s book with a message in it from the gifter . My granddaughter now has lots of lovely books with special messages in from her loved ones

Some years ago we showed hospitality to the uncle and father of an Iranian Muslim student who lived with us for a time. On their last evening in England they returned the favour by hosting us for dinner at their hotel and we presented them with gifts; a couple of lovely paintings of our town and dual language bibles (in English and Farsi).

The following morning they turned up en-route to the airport and asked us to write a dedication in each of the bibles, which we were very happy to do, as although taking a bible into Iran was frowned upon (it can be an imprisonable offence), the refusal of a gift was equally so - and by getting us to inscribe their copies they were able to take them back to Iran safely.

(Two or three years later we got news from our student that his whole extended family had converted to Christianity and had left Iran to live in Toronto where there is a large Iranian Church.)

I was looking at a book I have. It has the inscription on the flyleaf that it was First prize . It was received by my mum in 1914 when she was 7.

Lovely lovely heirlooms.

I agree.

Some books are meant to be passed on to friends, charity shops etc, others should be inherited.

My grandson has books now that were his mums, that I had written in for her.

I need to start to do it for his books, from me. Lovely lovely heirlooms.

I sometimes do a personalised message on a handmade bookmark for them if its someone close to me. But don't write in books because as you say it stops them passing on

I have The Complete works of William Shakespeare given by my grandmother 'Edith, With Best wishes to Elsie (her sister) May, 1908'. She gave it to me in 1962.

Yes if it’s a book I think they might keep

One of my most treasured possessions is a very old book of Shelley’s poems with a beautiful inscription inside. I sometimes rescue books from charity shops that have inscriptions inside, too.

Yes I always write a message.
I have some with more than one message as they have been passed on.
Keep writing and keep reading an actual book x

I have a few for Sunday school/ Jucos prizes given for attendance. I was dutifully sent, because my parents wanted a bit of peace and quiet on a Sunday afternoon.
However I picked up an English copy of Uncle Tom’s Cabin in a nearby French village, someone’s library thrown out on the street. Has anyone heard of this Sunday school?